by Chris
(One of Fifty States)
Ever since I got into the field of unemployment, I became aware that when things were veering away from what I would normally expect an eligibility decision to be, it was a good time to take a peek at an adjusted unemployment rate. I’d even make a bet with myself it would be clicking up .. not down.
Whether you overlook the adjusted UI rate altogether, or just don’t know the adjusted rate isn’t an accurate reflection of how many people are actually unemployed .. then you probably don’t care it’s the adjusted rate which discounts, as if they didn’t exist, the many who lose their job through no fault of their own, but are still denied unemployment benefits.
You’ll only find those poor discouraged unemployed souls in the unadjusted unemployment rate .. until or if they somehow manage to overcome with an appeal.
Have you ever wondered how many unemployed people throughout the recession may of ended up being found at fault for their own job separation erroneously by even the average reasonable person’s standard? And I might add, not after exhausting just the first appeal but the second level appeal which is similar to expecting your six year old to learn how to motorcycles.
Some .. including me project about half the people losing an appeal hearing .. could of won .. but then this is a statistic of experience working for a private unemployment industry .. not a state.
Yoo-who .. unemployment department are actually administrative law agencies .. and I would never want to work for one of them anymore than I want to work for another cost control company.
An Eye Opening Unemployment Statistic
There is an interesting unemployment statistic called “benefit recipiency rate” and from my non-statistician viewpoint, the Great Recession dramatically impacted it both on a national level and a state by state level and to the point of be historical on a level of the Great Depression.
When I write/talk about a person’s chances of collecting unemployment benefits, I often say it’s not a bad idea to get a “feel” for a state’s attitude toward claimants in general and check out option #13 at the ETA statistical charts,.
It allows you an opportunity to compare and detect if state’s attitude toward claimants is already biased in law. to favor employers, or employees. (By the way, if your anti-virus software warns you away from the page at http://www.ows.doleta.gov/unemploy/chartbook.asp know I proceed all the time and don’t think I’m risking life and limb of my personal laptop. I’m thinking it must be intentional to scare people off becauseI emailed the “webmaster” to tell about the problem I encounter every time I click that bookmark.
But my real purpose today isn’t just to blather on about why you should check out your state’s reicipiency rate. I’m here because I found myself reading an article at the Huffington Post telling us something I’ve known for years Fewer Americans Collect Unemployment Benefits Than You Think.
And I heard myself say out loud when I read the title .. No shit?!
Frankly, I was surprised it took the liberally biased media outlet this long to tell us about a problem that clearly fluctuates with the health of our economy. And if you are to believe me .. it is poor economic health that signals a intolerably ugly, but reliable problem having to do with a lack of mandated agency impartiality.
You can talk the talk, but experience will eventually teach us it takes evidence to show when the talk is being walked backwards.
Well pardon me for my cynicism, but with the state of government affairs, I think it is well withing the bounds of reason to think those in charge, i.e., government to be sorely tempted, especially when threatened with insolvency of a UI fund to lean in the direction that is not impartial and just a touch partial to business in general.
I mean how difficult do you think it would be for an “expert” to use an individual’s ignorance against them in a hearing setting, when a claimant’s overall lack of experience needing unemployment is all they’ve got and their employer thinks a hearing is old hat.
Well, the USDOL conducted an investigation into one governor who wanted those experts to do just that. Problem is . he got caught because he’s about as subtle as a freight train.
My unemployment question today is when will they ever fix the antiquated unemployment system in such a way as to make it sustainable and without the need for conservative to point fingers of blame and try to shame all unemployment people into that proverbial deadbeat unemployed stereotype who is just out to game the system?
It’s a ludicrous generalization given the reality of the number of new job that weren’t created for years.
I also wonder if when the economic chips were down and we faced mass offshoring of American jobs, who allowed that to happen .. no really was it a partisan effort .. or was it a bi-partisan effort?
Just my editorial and clearly frustrated two cents worth. But in the end I still know there is only one way to adjust a deserving unemployed person out of the adjusted rate .. and that is always fairly and impartially as mandated by law and that means they need access to state regulations and interpretive resources that are often stashed on a paid legal research webiste with exclusive access .. for those who can afford to pay.